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Said it before the CFL showed see the light and come over to Rugby League and save some $$$$$$

I argued for that very thing 20+ years ago after their US expansion effort ended in failure, I had an op-ed called A New Vision for Canadian Football published by both the Globe and Mail and the Montreal Gazette. Instead they went cap in hand to the NFL for help.

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CFL would have a lot more money if they got rid of what the NFL can afford to do like Defence and Offence only teams as well as Specialists and Practice squads ? plus in a business sense going to Rugby Union would be better with International's tours, World Cup, 7's and Lions but pardon my french ###### about in a 9 team league with most in Toronto and Vancouver like the bigger league NFL is just not going to take the sport anywhere in the future sadly which is a shame.

I also fear for the GAA in the future.

After their US expansion efforts fizzled they were on the brink of going under. Commissioner Larry Smith moved on and the League chairman (John Tory as it happens) was left trying to hold things together. I remember seeing him interviewed at halftime of a televised match late in the season and he practically begged viewers to buy tickets for the playoff matches that year, the league needed the ticket money. The Argonauts and Allouettes are reportedly both struggling now, so maybe they'll get to that point again.

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Thats sad to hear about that as the CFL have a long history but maybe it's time to make it a NFL development league and just replace the Toronto and Vancouver CFL teams to NFL teams.

Though I grew up watching the CFL and liking it because it was the one all-Canadian league in pro sports, it's not sad to me. They made their bed by chipping away at their uniquely Canadian game and progressively turning it into a second-rate variant of the US game during the past 100 years, one rule change at a time. Even so they continued to claim that they had a distinctly Canadian game and to this day a good number of their followers here will insist that it isn't just a variant of the US game when foreigners can see at a glance that it is.

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I argued for that very thing 20+ years ago after their US expansion effort ended in failure, I had an op-ed called A New Vision for Canadian Football published by both the Globe and Mail and the Montreal Gazette. Instead they went cap in hand to the NFL for help.

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Too many pipe dreams in this article. There will be no rivalries due to the fact that the franchises aren't commercially viable in the lower divisions it only viable in Super League and the teams will be going up and down and they'll never be able to consistently play each other to build a rivalry(another reason why Promo and reg sucks). I doubt we'll have all Canadian teams all in super league the English fans will lose their teams and the English market is what keeps super league afloat. If the plan is 4 Canadian cities (Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto) then they need a Canadian league but that won't happen because it's not viable outside of the English structure. It's a very weird time for RL I don't see a successful future for these north american sides if they over expand. They seems to be biting more than they can chew. Maybe do what France do just 2 strong franchises before expanding so much. RL is much stronger in France than it is Canada

But this article doesn't talks about the lack of development of RL in Canada on grassroots level. Even with the wolfpack there the ontario RL went from 4 clubs to 2 clubs. Clearly not enough has been done to assist the lower levels of the game. Yet the wolfpack are constantly funding union events instead of helping the RL scene. Really the game has had great exposure but not enough is being done to fully capitalize on it at grassroots level. Lets hope it's different in Ottawa. No union promoting or funding like the wolfpack. All the support must go to the RL scene in Ottawa.

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Though I grew up watching the CFL and liking it because it was the one all-Canadian league in pro sports, it's not sad to me. They made their bed by chipping away at their uniquely Canadian game and progressively turning it into a second-rate variant of the US game during the past 100 years, one rule change at a time. Even so they continued to claim that they had a distinctly Canadian game and to this day a good number of their followers here will insist that it isn't just a variant of the US game when foreigners can see at a glance that it is.

As one of the foreigners (hi) who is a lifelong fan of his local NFL team (go Pats) and has follow the Roughriders for the last 5 years- Canadian football isn't as close to ours as you think it is.

Not so much anymore. For example, 2018 Rugby in the Square at Toronto City Hall was presented by the Wolfpack. This year TWP was completely absent, but the Toronto Arrows had a booth there.

Hard NO to the CFL switching. I want more sports, not less.

Besides, they wouldn't make a change that radical without it being clear that they would attract more long term fans than they would alienate. I don't think that would be the case. But, what they would do is what they're starting to do with soccer. Adding teams, not switching existing ones. Keep the old fans, get new ones to the new teams with lots of crossover, and fill more stadium dates.